1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a dispenser for solid or semi-solid compositions, particularly underarm cosmetics, which are delivered in a metered quantity from a chamber by manual rotation of a screwdrive elevating a piston contacting the compositions.
2. The Related Art
Underarm cosmetics such as antiperspirants and deodorants have been delivered in three distinct formats. Application has been either through aerosol sprays, roll-on ball applicators and propel-repel piston operated sticks. Commercially most popular have been the stick variety. More recently, a fourth underarm product format has entered the marketplace, namely semi-solids. Packaging for the semi-solids has proved quite challenging.
An early entry into the semi-solid product form was Arrid.RTM. Extra Dry Glide-On distributed by the Carter-Wallace Company. Packaging of this product is similar to that utilized for traditional sticks. An oval container with a knurled screw propel-repel mechanism is employed to control a screw-type piston. The new aspect is a plastic dome around the upper end of the container, with a series of apertures in the plastic dome for exit of the semi-solid product.
More recently the Gillette.RTM. Series products entered the marketplace. Besides a transparent package and clear product, Gillette.RTM. innovated with refinement of the product dispensing apertures. U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,755 (Thompson), assigned to the Gillette Company, describes a domed or application surface structure having an array of dispensing ports located at an outlet end of respective elongated distribution passages. These passages are further defined by an interconnected array of elongated divider webs shaped to provide each of the passages with a flared entrance port and a relieved dispensing port region at the application surface. Metered quantities of gel cosmetic material are reported achievable as a result of this array of flared entrance ports, interconnected divider webs, distribution passages and dispensing ports. See also the related design cases: U.S. Pat. No. Des. 331,534 and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 331,639.
On the heels of these developments, the Procter & Gamble Company launched its version of a semi-solid underarm product known as Secret.RTM. Ultra Dry. U.S. Pat. 5,000,356 (Johnson et al.) describes the Secret.RTM. Ultra Dry package as a swivel-up type dispensing container using a feed screw to drive an elevator which impels the cream product in a unidirectional manner. The drive of the feed screw is superimposed with reciprocatory motion caused by internal cams which retract the elevator. By intermittently retracting the elevator a suitable distance, discrete amounts of the product are dispensed for each cycle. Residual pressure on the product is thereby also relieved which prevents it from weeping onto the applicator surface of the dispenser.
Related technology is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,231 (Wiercinski). This swivel-up type dispensing package includes a button adapted to be depressed by the user in a direction which is generally transverse to the axis of the body of the dispensing package. Transverse movement of the button is converted to rotary input to either a feed screw or nut to cause one to rotate relative to the other and thereby move an elevator for the product. The button has an integral pawl which during transverse movement engages ratchet teeth fixed to a wheel mounted perpendicularly to the axis of the body, causing the wheel to rotate through an arc subtended by driven teeth.
Japanese Patent Publication 3-240678 (A) reports a liquid discharging device that includes a mechanism to quantify discharge by using a click or collision sound at a time when ratchet teeth are mutually brought near an elastic member.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,972 (Sakurai et al.) describes a multi-compartment dispenser for delivering a plurality of different creamy substances. The dispenser includes a tubular case with two chambers containing the creamy substances, a tubular member disposed within each chamber for axial movement, a hollow cylinder rotatably fitted over each tubular member and having longitudinal teeth on its outer surface, an extrusion plunger fitted into each chamber for axial movement which includes a plate member, a tubular boss projecting downwardly from the plate member, and an operating member capable of simultaneously rotating the two hollow cylinders. The operating member is moved to turn the hollow cylinders by a predetermined angle so that the extrusion plungers are raised simultaneously a predetermined distance thereby extruding the creamy substances.
From the foregoing description of the related art, it is evident there have been some significant advances in the packaging of semi-solid products. Yet, a number of further challenges remain. Some of the aforementioned packaging involves complicated mechanisms that are relatively expensive to manufacture. Certain of the packages require two-handed operation which renders them somewhat inconvenient during the dispensing operation along the underarms. Others of the aforementioned devices do not provide the user with a proper indication of the amount of product metered.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a dispenser for solids or semi-solids that provides a user with finer control in metering doses from the dispenser.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser for solids or semi-solids that includes a mechanism with an audible click allowing a user to dispense identical dosages repetitively and accurately.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser for solids or semi-solids that does not require two-handed operation during dispensing of product, especially in the underarm area of a human body.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent through consideration of the following summary and description.